Engine



' Jan. 16,1934. A. J. MEYER ENGINE Filed Aug. 10, 193] 5 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR,

I I Q ATTORNEY.

Jan. 16, 1934. J MEYER 15943544 1 555072 7 'aveZ INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Jan. 16, 1934 UNITED TATES ATE @F'FECE ENGINE Application August 10, 1931. Serial No. 556,172

20 Claims.

gines.

It is an object of my invention to provide improvements in engines of the aforesaid type whereby the engine may be readily and advantageously reversed in its direction of power drive. I have illustrated my invention in connection with the Burt-McCollum type of engine in which a single sleeve valve for each cylinder is given a combined axial reciprocation and oscillation to obtain the well known valving functions of the engine, a point on the sleeve tracing a closed curve path during its movement.

There are many uses for an engine adapted to have its crankshaft or other power actuator ca-- pable of power movement in opposite directions, such for example in marine installations. dirigible and aircraft installations, etc.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a reversible sleeve valve engine wherein the cylinder and sleeve ports are so arranged that they are capable of porting for either direction of engine drive, said ports being constructed to obtain a more favorable engine performance in one direction than in the other direction.

This invention provides for improvements and modifications over the structures described and broadly claimed in my co pending application, Serial No. 550,065, filed July 11, 1931.

Further objects and, advantages of my invention will be apparent as this specification progresses reference being had to the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. l is a sectional elevation view of a typical cylinder of the engine,

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic detail view illustrating the sleeve valve in its two positions of opposite drive,

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view illustrating the valveshaft moving means for controlling the sleeves for opposite drive,

Fig. l is a diagrammatic development view of a typical sleeve and cylinder port arrangement illustrating the sleeve port. shifting,

5 illustrates a. modified construction and shows an enlarged detail view diagrammatically illustrating two. positions of the sleeve intake port and its associated cylinder port,

- Fig, 6 illustrates another modified construction and shows an enlarged detail View diagrammatically illustrating two positions of the sleeve intake port with its associated cylinder port arrangement,

Fig. 7 illustrates a further modified construction and shows an enlarged detail view diagrammatically illustrating two positions of the sleeve intake port with its associated cylinder port arrangement,

Fig. 8 is an enlarged detail View thereof dia-. grammatically illustrating two positions of the sleeve exhaust port with its associated cylinder port arrangement, and

Fig. 9 diagrammatically illustrates the port areas of the various modified port constructions plotted against the crankshaft angle.

In the drawings reference character A represents the engine of the aforesaid BurtMcCollum type, a typical cylinder 10 thereof being illustrated in Fig. 1. This cylinder has the usual cylinder head 11 depending therewithin to provide a combustion chamber 12, a single sleeve valve 13 operating within the cylinder and having its upper end working between the cylinder head and cylinder. The usual piston 14 is located within sleeve 13 and through connecting rod 15 operates the crankshaft 16. For a four stroke cycle engine as illustrated a layshaft or valveshaft 17 is driven at half engine or crankshaft speed by the reduction driving means illustrated by driving and driven gears 18 and 19 respectively connected to the crankshaft and valveshaft. V

The valveshaft 17 is mounted for rotation and axial shifting in spaced bearings 20, the valveshaft having bearing portions 21- engageable therein. The valveshaft has, associated with each sleeve and cylinder, a wobble crank 22 herein illustrated as comprising spaced balls 23 and 24, receiving sockets 25 and 26 respectively of the sleeve link 27 which is connected at its opposite end to the lower end of sleeve 13 through the ball 28 carried by sleeve 13 and the socket 29 carried by the link 27.

For purposes hereinafter more apparent, the front end of valveshaft 17 has a spline 29 slidable in gear 19 and a collar 30 movable by yoke 31 of lever 32 having a fixed pivot 33. By manually actuating lever 32 the valveshaft may be moved to the right from its position in Fig. 3 as illustrated by the dotted valveshaft end, such movement controlling the reversing of the engine. During such movement wobble crank 22 and links 27 will also be shifted serving to rotate each sleeve valve through an angle at in Fig. 2. Thus each sleeve will have its movement as before but from aposition rotatably shifted, the valveshaft, crankshaft, and sleeve moving in opposite directions as will be more apparent from the following description of the porting arrangement.

The cylinder 1c is formed with intake ports 34 and exhaust ports 35 and 36 such ports being preferably arranged substantially in a plane across the cylinder axis with the exhaust and intake ports grouped consecutivelytogether. The sleeve valve has similarly grouped intake ports 37 and exhaust ports 38 and referring to Fig. 4. the cylinder ports are shown in full lines and the sleeve ports in dotted lines IN designating intake and X designating exhaust ports, the sleeve having a circumference as designated. The sleeve ports are illustrated in Fig. 4 as being symmetrical and triangular with their apices extending axially upwardly while the cylinder ports are illustrated as being similarly symmetrical and triangular with their apices extending axially downwardly, such form of ports being adapted to function for either direction of sleeve movement as indicated by the closed curve paths 38 and 39 traced by a point on the sleeve.

Referring to Fig. 4 and the upper row of cylinder and sleeve ports it will be noted that the sleeve movement 38' is clockwise, the intake ports just commencing the intake cycle and the exhaust ports just having completed the exhaust cycle. With the ports arranged in such position the engine crankshaft turns in a definite direction. Now let us assume that the direction of crankshaft rotation is to be reversed. The operator shifts lever 32 and thereby shifts the valveshaft a distance H (see Figs. =i to 6 inclusive),

I each sleeve being rotated through angle :13. The

sleeve ports 3'? and 38 now occupy a different position relative to the cylinder ports 34:, 35 and 36 as illustrated in the lower row of ports in Fig. i. In such position the ports will cause opposite rotation of the crankshaft. Thus assuming the shift to take place with the ports arranged as in the top row of Fig. i to a position as in the bottom row of Fig. 4, intake is just beginning and exhaust is just completed but the direction of movement of the sleeve, crankshaft, and valveshaft is opposite.

It will be noted that the porting is accomplished with two cylinder intake ports 3% and two cylinder exhaust ports 35, with cooperating sleeve intake ports 3'? and sleeve exhaust ports 38, there being an extra cylinder exhaust port 36 having no function for the direction of rotation as in the upper row of ports in 4 but adapted to function when the sleeve is shifted as in the lower row. In the latter instance one of the exhaust ports 35 (being the last one to the right in Fig. i) does not function due to the shift.

By providing symmetrical ports the amount of shift E is the horizontal travel or distance between adjacent sleeve ports and also the port width as will be noted from Fig. 4. With such arrangement the amount of shift for reversing movement equals the circumference of the sleeve valve divided by twice the number of cylinder I ports, there being preferably one more cylinder exhaust ports than intake ports.

Referring to Fig. 2 it will be noted that the ball 23 carried by the sleeve is positioned in its two positions of valveshaft shift preferably equally to either side of the radius 40 which is perpendicular to the valveshaft axis whereby in either of its positions of shifting the ball 28 is operated only half the angle a: away from its normally best location which is at radius 40.

It will be understood that these ports may vary within the scope of my invention from a geometrical triangle as long as the general port construction is triangularly elongated. Such construction is evolved by reason of the desired general symmetry of the cylinder ports with their slanting side edges for selective cooperation with cooperating slanting side edges of the sleeve ports resulting in the generally triangularly shaped ports. In actual practice to realize most efficient port areas the apices of the ports may be somewhat elongated beyond a strictly triangular shape and one slantiir edge of each intake port may slope to a greater extent than the other to obtain more favorable engine performance in one direction (ordinarily forward speed for the vehicle equipped with such engine) than in the other direction (ordinarily reverse speed for the vehicle).

Instead of shifting the sleeve ports as described relative to the cylinder ports it will be obvious that the cylinder ports may be shifted if desired relative to the sleeve ports, the cylinder ports being carried by a suitable sleeve on hand for such purpose.

In Fig. 5, I have illustrated a modified intake port arrangement comprising cooperating cylinder and sleeve intake ports 50 and 51 respectively which are generally symmetrical about the central axes 52 and 52 respectively extending axially through said cylinder and sleeve ports and through the mid-point of the base of said substantially triangular ports. The port area with this type of intake port is a considerable improvement over the port area provided by the triangular shape ports illustrated in Fig. 4, curve B (Fig. 9) graphically representing the port opening area when employing intake ports constructed as shown by Fig. 5 while curve C graphically represents the port opening area for intake ports illustrated in Fig. 4.

The cooperating cylinder and intake ports and 61 illustrated in Fig. 6 are not respectively symmetrical about the axes 62 and 62' and as graphically illustrated in Fig. 9, the curve D represents the port opening area, which may be noted as providing more port area than the structures graphically illustrated by the curves B and C. These ports 60 and 61 are each provided with elongated apices 63 and 64 respectively. the ports deviating a limited amount from a true symmetrical triangular shape.

It may be noted that the axes 62 and 62' extend axially of the intake ports and pass through the mid-point of the base of said substantially triangular intake ports.

A further modification is illustrated in Fig. '7 and shows cooperating cylinder and sleeve intake ports and '71 which are respectively unsymmetrically arranged with respect to the axial lines '72 and 72 of the intake ports passing through the mid-point of the base of said triangular ports. Following a series of experiments with various types of intake and exhaust ports I find that the construction illustrated by Figs. 7 and 8 is best suited to my purpose, the port opening area being graphically represented by the curve E (see Fig. 9). These ports deviate a limited amount from a true symmetrical triangular shape.

As stated in the introductory paragraphs of the specification. an object of my invention is to obtain a more favorable engine performance in one direction of engine drive than in the other direction. The symmetrical arrangement of ports as illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 provide as favorable an engine performance in reverse as in forward direction of engine drive, but by'constructing, said ports as. substantially. illustrated by Figs. Sand '7 a, more favorable engine performance is had in one directionof engine drive than; in the other direction and preferablythe forward drive for the vehicle, aircraft or the like is ordinarily favored. The provision of sleeve.

ports with elongated apices extendingaxially upwardly, and cylinder ports with or without elongated apices extending axially downwardly provides substantially a satisfactory portv opening area in one direction of engine speed for obtaining a satisfactory and efficient engine performance but which also provides a fairly large port opening area in the other direction of engine speed,. thereby providing a very eflicient engineperformance for reverse as well, as forward engine drive.

By ofisetting the apices of'these generally triangular shaped ports to one side of the axial line of the intake ports passing through the mid-point of the base thereof, or by providing difierent angular relations between the legs. of said. triangular shaped ports an increase in port opening area can be obtained, but because of the fact that it is desirable to use the same ports when driving the engine in the other direction, I find that the amount of deviation of said ports from a true symmetrical figure is limited by reason of the fact that too much deviation will. cause an excessive decrease in port opening area when the engine is reversed, which will excessively decrease the efficiency of the engine performance when so-reversed. In Fig. 8, I have illustrated cylinder exhaust ports and sleeve exhaust ports and 81 adapted for an engine employing cylinder and sleeve intake ports as illustratedin Fig. 7.

It will be noted that the cooperating intake ports illustrated in Figs. 6 and '7 and the cooperating exhaust ports illustrated in Fig. Shave a greater area of opening to one side of the axial line of the ports passing through the mid-point of the base of said substantially triangular ports, whereby said intake ports provide relatively greater port opening in one direction of their relative movement than in the reverse direction. Obviously the same relationship exists with respect to the cooperating cylinder and sleeve exhaust ports.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In an engine of the reversing type having a cylinder and associated sleeve valve means adapted to move with a combined reciprocation and oscillation, said cylinder and sleeve valve means having cooperating intake and exhaust ports, said cylinder and sleeve intake ports being substantially triangular and having apices extending axially of the sleeve, each of said coop erating intake ports having a greater area of opening to one side of the axial line of the ports passing through the mid-point of the base of said substantially triangular ports than to the other side thereof.

2. In an engine of the reversing type having a cylinder and associated sleeve valve means adapted to move with a combined reciprocation and oscillation, said cylinder and sleeve valve means having cooperating intake and exhaust ports, said cylinder and sleeve intake ports being substantially triangular and having apices extending axially of the sleeve, each of said 00- operating intake ports having a greater area of opening to that side of the axial line of the ports passing through the mid-point of the base of said i substantially triangular ports adjacent the closing edge of. the port. than the other. side, thereof.

3; In an engine of the type having av cylinder. and associated sleeve valve meahs adapted. to

move with a combined reciprocation andv oscillation, said cylinder. and sleeve valve meanshaving cooperating intake and exhaust ports, said;

cylinder and sleeve intake ports being substantially triangular and having elongatedapices extendingsubstantially axially of the sleeve.

4'. In an engine of the type having a cylinder and associated sleeve valve means adapted to move witha combined reciprocation and oscillae tion, saidcylinder and sleeve valve means having cooperating intake and exhaust ports, said cylinder and sleeve intake ports being substantiallytriangular and having apices extending axially of the sleeve, said apices offset to one side of the axial line of the ports passing through the mid.- point of the base of said substantially triangular ports.

5. In an engine of the type having a cylinder and associated sleeve valve means adapted to move with a combined reciprocationand oscillation, said cylinder and sleeve valve means having cooperating intake and exhaust ports, saidcylinder and sleeve intake ports being substantially triangular and having apices extending axially of the sleeve, said apices being elongated and offset to one side of the axial line of the ports passing through the mid-point of the base of said substantially triangular ports.

6. In an engine of the type having a cylinder and associated sleeve valve means adapted to move with a combined reciprocation and oscillation, said cylinder and sleeve valve means having cooperating intake and exhaust port openings, said cylinder and sleeve intake port openings being substantially triangular and having apices extending axially of the sleeve, said cylinder and sleeve intake port openings deviating from the true triangular figure by having concave sides.

7. In an engine of the type having a cylinder and associated sleeve valve means adapted to move with a combined axial reciprocation and oscillation, said cylinder and sleeve having cooperating intake and exhaust ports, means operat ing said sleeve valve means selectively in opposite directions, said intake ports constructed to favor engine performance in one direction of engine drive more than the other direction.

8. In an engine of the type having a cylinder and associated sleeve valve means adapted to move with a combined axial reciprocation and oscillation, said cylinder and sleeve having cooperating intake and exhaust ports, means operating said sleeve valve means selectively in opposite directions, said intake ports constructed to provide relatively greater port opening area in one direction of engine drive than in the 0pposite direction.

9. In an engine of the type having a cylinder and associated sleeve valve means adapted to move with a combined axial reciprocation and oscillation, said cylinder and sleeve having c0- operating intake and exhaust ports, means operating said sleeve valve means selectively in op posite directions, said intake ports being substantiall-y triangular in shape and constructed to favor engine performance in one direction of engine drive more than the other direction.

10. In an engine of the type having a cylinder and associated sleeve valve means adapted to move with a combined axial reciprocation and oscillation, said cylinder and sleeve having cooperating intake and exhaust ports, means oper-- ating said sleeve valve means selectively in opposite directions, said intake ports being substantially triangular and having a construction whereby said intake ports provide a greater port opening area in 0 -e direction of their relative movement than in the reverse direction.

11. In an engine of the type having a cylinder and associated sleeve valve means adapted to move with a combined axial reciprocation and oscillation, said cylinder and sleeve having cooperating intake and exhaust ports, ineans selectively operating said sleeve valve means in opposite directions, said intake ports being subtantially triangular and having apices extending generally axially of the sleeve and cylinder axes, said intake ports constructed in a manner where by to provide a greater relative port opening area in one direction of their relative movement than in the reverse direction.

12. In an engine of the type having a cylinder and associated sleeve valve means adapted to move With a combined axial reciprocation and oscillation, said cylinder and sleeve having cooperating intake and exhaust ports, means selectively operating said sleeve valve means in opposite directions, said intake ports being substantially triangular and having apices extending generally axially of the sleeve and cylinder axes, each of said cooperating intake ports having a greater area of opening to one side of the axial line of the ports passing through the mid-point of the base of said substantially triangular ports than to the other side thereof, whereby said intake ports provide greater opening in one direction of their relative movement than in the reverse direction.

13. In an engine of the type having a cylinder and associated sleeve valve means adapted to move with a combined axial reciprocation and oscillation, said cylinder and sleeve having cooperating intake and exhaust ports, means selectively operating said sleeve valve means in opposite directions, said cooperating intake ports being substantially triangular and having elongated apices extending generally axially of the sleeve and cylinder axes, said apices offset to one side of the axial line of the ports passing through the mid-point of the base of said substantially triangular ports, whereby said intake ports provide greater opening in one direction of their relative movement than in the reverse direction.

I l. In an engine of the type having a cylinder and associated sleeve valve means adapted to move with a combined axial reciprocation and oscillation, said cyl nder and sleeve having cooperating intake and exhaust ports, means selectively operating said sleeve valve means in opposite directions, said cooperating intake ports being substantially triangular and having apices extending generally axially of the sleeve and cylinder axes, said ports including the apices deviating a limited amount from the true symmetrical triangular port, whereby said intake ports provide greater opening in one direction of their relative movement than in the reverse direc tion.

15. In an engine of the type having a cylinder and associated sleeve valve means adapted to move with a combined axial reciprocation and oscillation, said cylinder and sleeve having cooperating intake and exhaust ports, means selectively operating said sleeve valve means in opposite directions, said cooperating intake ports being substantially triangular and having elongated apices extending generally axially of the sleeve and cylinder axes, said apices inclined at an angle and to one side of the axial line of the ports passing through the mid-point of the base of said substantially triangular ports, whereby said intake ports provide greater opening in one direction of their relative movement than in the reverse direction.

16. In an engine having a cylinder, sleeve valve means associated with said cylinder, said cylinder and sleeve valve means having cooperating ports adapted to favor engine performance in one direction of engine drive more than in the other direction, and means for driving said sleeve valve means.

17. In an engine having a cylinder, sleeve valve means associated with said cylinder, said cylinder and sleeve valve means having cooperating ports adapted to favor engine performance in one direction of engine drive more than in the other direction, and means for driving said sleeve valve means selectively in opposite directions for intake opening of said ports.

18. In an engine having a cylinder, sleeve valve means associated with said cylinder, said cylinder and sleeve valve means having cooperating ports adapted to favor engine performance in one direction of engine drive more than in the other direction, and means for driving said sleeve valve means selectively in opposite directions of rotational movement for intake opening of said ports.

19. In an engine having a cylinder, a sleeve valve associated with said cylinder and adapted to move with combined reciprocation and oscillation, said sleeve valve and cylinder having a pair of cooperating intake ports, said ports having substantially oppositely pointing apices, each of said ports having an edge opposite to its apex, each of said ports having a side between its apex and edge aforesaid, the said sides of said ports cooperating during port functioning, the said edge of one of said ports being spaced axially of said sleeve from the said apex of the other of said ports at the beginning of intake port opening, the said apices of said ports lying to one side of an axial line passing through the mid-point of the associated port edge aforesaid.

20. In an engine having a cylinder, a sleeve valve associated with said cylinder and adapted to move with combined reciprocation and oscillation, said sleeve valve and cylinder having a pair of cooperating intake ports, said ports having substantially oppositely pointing apices, each of said ports having an edge opposite to its apex, each of said ports having a side between its apex andedge aforesaid, the said sides of said ports cooperating during port functioning, the said edge of one of said ports being spaced axially of said sleeve from the said apex of the other of said ports at the beginning of intake port opening, said apices lying to opposite sides respectively of axial lines passing through the respective midpoints of said port edges.

ANDRE J. MEYER.

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